random

last saturday we took the kids to scheels 

(a big sporting store with a ferris wheel that i kind of hate and they love)

eleanor can't ride the ferris wheel so we stayed off

noah wanted to ride by himself and michael rode with the big girls

he looks pretty proud of himself

 our family passed around a terrible 24 hour stomach flu this week

hazel got it first 

i love her messy hair and that she's using my favorite blanket from when i was little

 eleanor was super excited about the pizza i made the other night

she stood and watched it bake the whole time :)

 not last night but the night before i was up most of the night sick

it was nice to have just the light of the tree up with me

i'm not sure why it looks so splotchy...

 michael was so sweet and stayed home to take care of the kids without me asking yesterday

i hardly got out of bed until almost noon

and he'd cleaned and cooked for the kids

and taken care of everything

which was especially sweet since he'd been sick a day or two earlier 

and i didn't take care of him nearly as well

sorry, darling!

when hazel got home from school i told her i still wasn't feeling well

and she said, "you must feel so bad because you have a baby in your tummy and you're sick"

such a sweet girl

 yesterday when hazel got home from school

eleanor heard her bus pull up and yelled, "hazel!"

and ran to the front door to greet her

then they stood here and hugged for a while

i love their relationship, it's the sweetest how much they love each other

olive randomly asked for her picture to be taken

a few nights ago when we went to check on noah before we went to bed 

we found this huge pile of stuffed animals

silly boy, it reminded me of this other masterpiece of his

there was a magical few minutes today when noah and hazel were at school

and olive and eleanor were both napping

 noah loves doing the ropes course at the riverwoods

 tonight i brushed eleanor's teeth and she was a little resistant 

and then hazel said, "you want me to brush your teeth?"

and eleanor rolled over and opened her mouth

 she just loves her second mommy

lastly,

i went to parent/teacher conferences the other night

and i was so proud of the kids

noah's teacher thinks he's so cute because she does tae kwon do

so he'll try to speak in korean (that he's learned at martial arts) to her

and show her his forms

he was in a funk earlier in the year but luckily he's come out of it

and she and i are both so glad

hazel's teacher just loves her and said she's like the best student ever

she is always on task and helping others and so smart

she has at least a 1st grade reading level if not higher